President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that High Commissioner to India, Charrandass Persaud has agreed to return home following the furore generated by a video in which he was seen cursing a woman in New Delhi last year August and using sexually suggestive gestures.
In a three-minute video address to the nation, Ali did not issue a reprimand to Persaud or say explicitly that he had been recalled. The President characterised the return as if it had been by mutual agreement and for the need to always show behaviour of the highest order.
Amid an outpouring of revulsion over Persaud’s conduct, the President shed no light on why this incident had not been made known when it occurred and action taken immediately. The President also did not address the statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday that it considered the matter to be closed as Persaud had been investigated and cleared.
In the statement on his personal Facebook page, the President said the video with Charrandass Persaud came to his attention early on Tuesday but he was unable to view it then since he had several meetings at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport, Timehri with Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley among other persons.
After he saw the video he said he called Persaud who stated that the video was not a complete recording of the events and that he had been cleared in the investigation that had been done.
The president said that notwithstanding all of this, it was agreed between the two that in keeping with the interests of Guyana, Persaud would return to the country and that he accepted full responsibility for his actions.
Questions remain as to when the government became aware of this incident last year and what actions were taken immediately. Given that Persaud has immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, it was not for the Indian authorities to investigate but for the government here to determine whether his conduct was beyond the pale and warranted his immediate recall.
“Last night after having a chance to review the video I called High Com-missioner Charrandass. During our conversation he related to me that this is an incident that occurred sometime in August last year, and the video is not a full reflection of what took place. Per a matter of fact he informed that the video was not complete in demonstrating what took place,” the president said in the statement.
Considering the profanities and crude behaviour seen on the video, the President’s referencing of Persaud’s view that the entire recording had not been shown has raised concerns.
Ali said he explained to Persaud that representatives of Guyana must on every occasion conduct themselves in the highest order and regard.
“Mr. Charrandass then communicated to me that this matter was dealt with by the relevant agencies and authorities in India and that there was no evidence of any misconduct and for a matter of fact he was cleared of any accusation of sexual harassment. He also shared with me the letter that substantiated this statement.”
It was at this point, the president said, that Persaud agreed “…with me that in keeping with the best interest of Guyana and the image of Guyana that he would return home from his posting in India.”
“I want to assure all Guyanese that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government of Guyana will continue to work every day to strengthen our relationship not only with India but with every other partner across the globe,” President Ali said.
“Mr. Charrandass has agreed that he takes full responsibility of his actions and will return home from his posting as I would have said. We are therefore going to take all official steps and measures to ensure a smooth transition and to continue strengthening our work with India and to work on advancing the cause of Guyana in every capital,” he added.
The video and a criminal complaint filed against Persaud by the woman, Sonya Ghosh, 63, who is an associate professor only surfaced on Tuesday even though the incident occurred on August 1, 2021.
On Tuesday, shortly after Stabroek News saw the video, contact was made with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Hugh Todd who said the ministry would respond. The statement which was later issued, said: “The matter, brought to the attention of the Ministry of External Affairs of India by High Commissioner Persaud, was fully investigated by the relevant authorities and a formal response to the High Commissioner dated September 3rd, 2022 indicates that ‘allegation of sexual abusive words to complainant has [sic] not been substantiated.’” The ministry said that it “therefore considers the matter closed.”
From a document seen by Stabroek News, it doesn’t appear that the Indian investigation took account of the video. It spoke about Ghosh feeding dogs and that three men at the location denied the complaint she made. According to the document no one is allowed to enter Persaud’s residence without his permission and that it was in “these circumstances, allegations of sexual abusive words to complainant, has also not been substantiated.”
No mention was made of the video which Ghosh had said was attached.
The video
In the criminal complaint Ghosh disclosed that she is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, CVS, Delhi University. She said that the incident, in which Persaud is seen dressed in shorts and a jersey, occurred while she was looking for a stray dog to feed it.
In the 32-second video seen by this newspaper, while the woman’s words were mostly inaudible as she was wearing a mask, Persaud can be clearly heard hurling profanities at the woman.
“No, I don’t need a dog in my yard, okay? You want a dog, take it put it between your legs. You probably want the dog to [expletive] you, that’s what you want,” Persaud is heard saying to the woman who was also speaking.
“I don’t care, I don’t care who you are,” he added and later screamed “I don’t know who the hell you are!”
“[Expletive] you!” he further shouted at the woman who continued to speak.
He then turned and walked away but quickly returned talking to a man, who was close to him, and pointing his fingers. He said “Listen to me, don’t let any woman come in my yard,”
“Hello, you like the camera”, he then said indicating he knew he was being filmed. A man with him however held his hand up as if to tell the person to stop filming and shortly after the video ended.
According to Ghosh’s criminal complaint, she has been feeding over 250 dogs daily in the area where the incident occurred. She explained that this was done in keeping with the regulatory guidelines of the country and that the homeless dogs have been sterilized and vaccinated on an annual basis at her expense. It was also done under the guidance of Member of Parliament, Maneka Gandhi, to whom she also copied her complaint.
On the day of the incident she said she arrived at Persaud’s house to feed a dog but her driver was unable to find it. She enquired from the guard at the house for the dog and he informed that Persaud had instructed his driver to throw out the dog. The woman then requested to be taken to Persaud as she wanted to be informed about the location where the dog was left.
She was escorted to the front of the house she said where she saw two servants behind a door with a glass pane but when she attempted to speak to them they shook their heads in denial. Ghosh said she was then being escorted back to her vehicle when she overheard someone shouting profanities at her.
She said that Persaud then rushed towards her in an intimidating manner without a mask.
The woman quoted several sections of the Indian Criminal Code one of which is Section 354 which states “Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty.— Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby outrage her modesty, 1[shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine].”
“The sheer vulgarity and obscenity of the words spoken along with the intimidating hand gestures and the body posture of the harasser, as can be seen in the video, is a clear sign of the intent of the harasser to outrage the modesty of the undersigned. Further, the words spoke(n), alone amount to sexual harassment from a bare perusal of the aforementioned provisions of Indian Penal Code, 1860,” Ghosh said in her complaint.
She also pointed out that India and Guyana are parties to the ‘Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963’ (hereinafter referred to as the “Convention”), which is the international convention on consular relations, privileges and immunities.
The professor noted that there is no existing bilateral agreement between the two countries governing consular relations; hence the provisions of the Convention will be applicable in the current context.
“Article 43, Clause 1 of the Convention states that: `Article 43 – Immunity from jurisdiction – 1.Consular officers and consular employees shall not be amenable to the jurisdiction of the judicial or administrative authorities of the receiving State in respect of acts performed in the exercise of consular functions,’ she further stated.
Persaud was appointed High Commissioner to India shortly after the PPP/C government was sworn in in 2020.
The former APNU+AFC parliamentarian was responsible for the APNU+AFC Government’s collapse after he voted for a PPP/C motion of no-confidence on December 21, 2018.
After the vote he was subjected to attacks on his character by both his former APNU+AFC colleagues and their supporters.
He left for Canada the day after the vote on the motion, which was passed 33 to 32 after he voted with the PPP/C, which was then the opposition. The PPP/C returned to office on August 2, following a five-month impasse over the results of the March 2nd general and regional elections. It was then that Persaud was appointed High Commissioner to India.
Yesterday, the opposition APNU+AFC condemned the government over the incident.
In a statement, the coalition said it would like to assure the “government and people of India that all Guyanese citizens (bar the expected exceptions in the government) are embarrassed and outraged by the conduct of now-recalled Guyana Ambassador to India Charrandass Persaud. In particular, we wish to offer our support and sympathy to Ms. Sonya Ghosh, the unfortunate victim of Mr. Charrandass Persaud’s vile onslaught”.
It charged that the PPP/C has fostered a culture of sexism and misogyny among its political executive by overlooking and condoning offensive and despicable conduct of its top-ranking officials. It said that the nation has not forgotten the vulgarities hurled by Minister Nigel Dharamlall at its female MPs.
“But more, the PPP has brought shame to our country by allowing Charrandass Persaud to continue as Ambassador for over a year, being fully aware of the contempt he had shown to the Indian government and people, especially its women and its culture.
“Yet more, The PPP has compounded the disgrace on the nation by rushing to bury the matter as `unsubstantiated’, despite the irrefutable video evidence that surfaced in the public domain.
“Further, our nation is dishonored that the PPP government has still failed to condemn the depraved act of its Ambassador and has still offered no apology to the victim, Ms. Sonya Ghosh, or to the people and government of India”, the coalition said.
Despite the current national mood of disgust, APNU+AFC said it would not waste time in calling on the PPP government to do the right thing.
“The PPP wouldn’t and morally can’t. Instead, we call on the Guyanese people to draw their own conclusions on the state of governance in their country”, the APNU+AFC said.
